In object-oriented programming, a class is a category that describes a group of more specific items, called objects, that can exist within the class. The class is a descriptive tool used in a software application to define a set of attributes, services, or other properties that characterize any object of the class. Each object is an instance of the class. Each object has an attribute value associated with each attribute defined by the class.
In object-oriented databases, one or more of the attributes defined by the class can be designated as a key attribute. Each object of the class has a unique attribute value associated with the key attribute. By specifying a value for the key attribute, a user can direct a software application to retrieve a specific object. A monitoring application can examine and verify attribute values of objects. In particular, the monitoring application compares the attribute values of the given object to threshold values to determine if any action should be taken. In this and similar monitoring applications, however, the objects to be examined must be statically identified to the application prior to the comparison. In addition, the threshold values and actions must be defined for each object statically identified.
The invention described below addresses these and other disadvantages.